Roses to David Klionski, a teacher and technology supervisor at Seawell Elementary School, who beat long odds to make it onto “Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.”

He still isn’t a millionaire, but he did walk out of the studio $11,250 richer than he walked in (he built his winnings to $22,500 but because he bailed at that point rather than risk it all on a question he wasn’t confident about, his total was halved). Klionski said he plans to donate a portion of his winnings to local charities, including the Blue Ribbon Mentor-Advocate program, which helps young people.

Klionski, who founded Seawell’s competitive Scrabble club, got word that he’d been chosen for the show via a phone call in the middle of class. The day he was to leave for New York to tape the show, the whole school gathered to wish him well with banners and signs and chants of “Go Mr. K!”

He answered some difficult questions, but maybe the hardest part of the whole thing was keeping his promise to the network to keep his winnings a secret for the eight months between the taping of his episode back in October and its airing last week.

Raspberries to those bicyclists who expect the rights but not the responsibilities of the road.

By law, cyclists are supposed to enjoy the same rights as motorists – but they’re supposed to follow the same rules too. We’ve all seen riders who barrel through red lights and stop signs or zip up onto the sidewalk to avoid traffic.

This came up recently in connection with the road widening project on Dairyland Road, which is – at long last – getting two-foot-wide paved shoulders added on each side. Although some cyclists complain that wide shoulders aren’t the same as bike lanes, they’re a lot better than what’s been there until now, which is nothing, and we think the work will ultimately make it safer for the hordes of cyclists who take that route into the pretty Orange County countryside.

During the paving work, though, work crews have to close off one lane at at time. Flaggers stop traffic and a pilot car leads motorists traffic safely through the work zone.

A few cyclists decided the rules didn’t apply to them. They ignored the flaggers with their stop signs and pedaled on through.

Worried that someone would get hurt, the contactor tried to forbid cycling on Dairyland Road during the paving project altogether.

That didn’t fly. NCDOT made the contractor take the signs down.

Cyclists, please be magnanimous in victory and follow the same rules as everybody else.

Roses to Nick McCrory, an East Chapel Hill High School alum who will represent the United States at the 2012 summer Olympic Games in London.

McCrory, who won three straight state championships at East, won the men’s 10-meter synchronized diving competition, along with his diving partner David Boudia, at teh Olympic Trials in Federal Way, Wash.

“This is what I’ve worked for my entire life,” McCrory said. “It was a dream as a kid and now it’s real life.”

It sure is. We’ll be cheering for you, Nick.